Poll: Most Want Pete Rose Reinstated

Jan. 5 -- Most Americans want Pete Rose back in professional baseball — and eligible for the Hall of Fame — even if he bet on games while he managed the Cincinnati Reds.

Two-thirds in this ABCNEWS/ESPN poll believe baseball's all-time hits leader did bet on baseball games. But as many also say Rose's 1989 lifetime ban should be lifted, and that he should be eligible for the shrine honoring baseball's greats in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Most of the support is unconditional: Even among people who believe Rose did gamble on baseball, two-thirds favor returning him to the sport. And 56 percent say he should be reinstated even if he admits to the allegation, after years of denial.

Support for reinstating Rose is a bit lower if he admits to gambling because the proposition loses some backing among people who currently think he didn't do it.

The poll was conducted before Rose's admission, in a book due in stores Thursday, that he did bet on baseball. Rose was banned for life in 1989 after investigators reported extensive evidence that he had bet on the game. At the time, he said he bet on other sports but not on baseball.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig recently said he is considering whether to lift the ban; unidentified baseball executives reportedly have said Rose needed to admit to the charge before that happens. Rose deals with the ban in his book, My Prison Without Bars, and in an exclusive interview on the ABCNEWS program Primetime, airing Thursday, Jan. 8, at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Baseball Fans Are Most Supportive

Baseball fans — 55 percent of Americans — are most supportive of returning Rose to the game. The poll found 74 percent of fans say the ban should end; fewer non-fans, 55 percent, agree. (Non-fans are more likely not to have an opinion). And if Rose admits to betting on baseball, two-thirds of fans still want him back, compared with only 47 percent of non-fans.

Results are similar for Hall of Fame eligibility. Sixty-eight percent say Rose should be eligible, and if he admits gambling, 62 percent say so. Among fans the numbers are higher — 79 percent and 72 percent, respectively. (Even if he is eligible, earning a place in Cooperstown isn't a given. Candidates must be named on 75 percent of the ballots of veteran baseball writers to be elected.)